Perpetually Late
by TeddyBear98
Summary: Barry was always late. But Iris never thought he'd be late on their wedding day.


**Author's Note:** Hey guys! I had so much fun writing this, so I hope you all like reading it! Anyways, the main point of this note is just to say that I don't know much about how weddings are supposed to work. I went to a few when I was younger, and I did some research. But when I get down to the standard wedding stuff at the end, please be understanding if I get anything wrong! That's it! So, enjoy!

 **Perpetually Late**

One hour. That was how long Iris West had been sitting in the chair in the bride's room, waiting. And waiting. In the beginning, she had told herself not to worry, that he would be there any minute now. He wouldn't do this to her; not on their big day. But as the wall on the clock changed to read 3:00, she was proved very wrong. They should have been _married_ by now, for God's sake.

In the past sixty minutes, the bride's room had been a flurry of activity. So many people had been in and out: her father, Wally. Caitlin and Cisco. Harry, Jesse, Jay. The list went on and on. Everyone had been assuring her that they were doing their best to locate the speedster, but that he hadn't answered any phone calls or texts. Iris should have been worried. Scratch that: she _was_ worried. Of course she was. But it was layered under the overwhelming frustration she felt as she watched that stupid clock keep ticking the minutes away.

Barry was always late. But Iris never thought he'd be late on their wedding day.

At the moment, she was the only one in the room. She assumed her friends and family were still doing their damndest to figure out what the hell was happening. To figure out where Barry was. It was as she sat there alone that she felt the rush of air that hit her, ruffling the train of her ivory dress, and she looked up to see her fiancé suddenly in front of her. Seconds ago, she had been about ready to punch the man. But as she got a good look at him, any frustration she had been feeling immediately vanished. He was standing there in his Flash suit with the hood down, and he looked like he might fall over on the spot. His lip was split, his left eye bruised and swollen. There was a gash on the right side of his face that stretched from his hairline all the way to his nose. And Iris just _knew_ there was more that his suit was covering.

" _Barry,_ " she breathed as she quickly stood, crossing the few inches to get to him. She wrapped an arm around him for support, carefully guiding him over to the now-empty chair and helping him ease into it. He winced and looked up at her, and Iris could see pain written across his face, but more prominently another emotion identifiable by his furrowed eyebrows and frown.

"Iris, I'm so, so sorry. I -" he started, but she cut him off.

"Don't you dare apologize," she said sternly, crossing swiftly back to the other side of the room. She grabbed her cellphone off of the table she had laid it on and shot off a quick text to Caitlin, telling her to get in there ASAP. She then quickly went back over to Barry, crouching down beside him to assess his injuries. "What happened?" she asked him, plucking a tissue from a nearby box and carefully dabbing at the blood dripping from her fiancé's face. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair and winced again as Iris dabbed at the wound.

"There was a bank robbery," he admitted. "I thought it would be easy to deal with, and that I could stop it in time. But there were more offenders than I thought and they were all armed and - God, I'm sorry," he apologized again, looking sheepish at the look she shot him.

"Didn't I just tell you not to apologize?" she asked, pulling the bloody tissue away from his face and tossing it in the trash; she was careful not to let any of it get on her gown. She reached for a new one, but Barry grabbed her wrist, stopping the action.

"Iris, I'm fine," he said. "I - I can get in my tux. It's at STAR. I just wanted to tell you what happened. Let me just get cleaned up and I'll run over -"

"Absolutely not. You're in no shape to even stand right now, let alone run all the way across town," she said insistently. Her tone clearly left no room for argument; Barry opened his mouth to protest anyways, but this time was cut off by the door banging open. Caitlin walked in, Cisco trailing directly behind her, clearly not wanting to be left out of the loop.

"Iris, what's -" Caitlin began, but stopped when she laid eyes on her superhero friend. "Damn it, Barry, really? On your wedding day?" she chastised, immediately walking over and beginning to assess him, hovering over him like a concerned mother. Cisco walked closer as well, but kept his distance, not wanting to get in Caitlin's way.

"Dude, what happened?" he asked, grimacing as he saw the state the speedster was in.

"Armed robbery. Bank. Didn't go well," Barry muttered as Caitlin continued to hover as she poked and prodded at him, practically blocking both Cisco and Iris from his view. Her preliminary assessment done, she finally straightened, crossing her arms and giving him a stern look.

"I'll be back soon with supplies. Don't you dare move," she said commandingly, in full-on

doctor mode. "You two, watch him," she instructed before walking purposefully out of the room, her heels clicking on the floor and fading away as the door closed behind her. As soon as Caitlin was gone, Barry did the exact opposite of what she had told him to do, attempting to stand on wobbly legs. Both Iris and Cisco immediately moved to push him back down.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you heard the doc," Cisco said, frowning down at his friend.

Barry let out an exasperated breath. "Guys, come on, this is ridiculous," he said, giving Iris a pleading glance. "Please, can we just start the wedding?" he asked, his tone practically begging. He felt bad enough about being late, and now everyone was just fussing over him. Iris was supposed to be the center of attention today, not him.

Iris of course knew Barry well enough to know exactly what was going through his mind, and it made her heart ache, but she was not about to put the wedding above Barry's wellbeing; that came first.

"Bar, you're _hurt_ ," she said with a frown, crouching beside him once again and taking one of his hands in hers, giving it a soft squeeze. "You need time to heal. This can't happen right now," she told him gently. She knew it would upset him; it upset her too. They had been excitedly planning this for months. Everyone was waiting for them. But when your fiancé was the savior of Central City, bumps in the road had to be expected.

"Besides, man, what's everyone gonna think if you walk out there looking like that?" Cisco asked. "If they don't figure out you're the Flash, they'll most definitely think you're in a gang or something," he supplied, trying to be helpful.

Barry let out strangled noise of defeat, moving to cradle his pounding head with the hand that Iris wasn't holding. He was silent for a moment, staring down at the floor before his foggy eyes moved back to Iris. The love of his life.

"You look so beautiful," he said, his voice almost a whisper. And then, even softer, "I've ruined everything." Iris felt tears pricking at her eyes, but refused to let them fall; not now. Not when her fiancé, her best friend, needed her.

"Barry, come here," she said, her voice still gentle as she very carefully pulled him into a hug. Barry sucked in a breath and hugged back to the best of his ability. "I don't want to hear you say that," she told him. "You have not ruined anything. We're still going to get married, alright? I still love you, with all of my heart. You did what you needed to do, Bar, and everything is going to be just fine."

After a moment, Barry pulled away from Iris' embrace, giving her a soft smile that probably looked pitiful with his split lip. But Iris smiled right back at him, and even Cisco's lips twitched as he watched the couple.

It was in that moment that Caitlin came walking purposefully back into the room carrying a STAR Labs bag full of medical supplies, back faster than they had anticipated. The doctor let loose a small smile. "A police escort gets you anywhere much quicker," she told them. As if on cue, Joe came striding into the room, carrying Barry's tux. He shook his head as he caught sight of his son.

"Geeze, Barry, really? Today of all days?" Barry looked sheepishly down at the floor, and Iris shot her father a look, squeezing Barry's hand again.

"You can harass him after I'm done with him, Joe," Caitlin said with a light smile, walking over to Barry and setting the bag down on the floor. "Suit off."

* * *

Barry spent the next hour recuperating after Caitlin had finished up with him. Even that hour wasn't enough to heal him completely, but he was feeling much better, and insisted that they had stalled long enough; it was a miracle that none of the guests had left after the long delay, and he wasn't about to wait around for that to happen. He had already shut down Caitlin's hesitant suggestion that they postpone their big day in favor of his injuries disappearing all the way first. There was no way in hell that was going to happen.

And so, a full two hours after it should have happened, Barry found himself standing at the altar in front of an all-too-ready audience, still sore but with a semi-bruised eye the only physical evidence of what had happened. Cisco stood by his side as his best man, smiling just as wide as Barry did when the music started to play.

Caitlin, as the maid of honor, was the first one down the aisle, moving to stand in her respective spot as she was followed in by the other bridesmaids. Iris had kept that party small, giving the rolls to Jesse, Linda and Felicity, all three of whom were accompanied by their respective groomsmen: Wally, Jay and Oliver. Next came the flower girl, Isabella. She was Cisco's little cousin, but Iris and Barry had thought it was appropriate, since none of them had young family who could take the part. Walking beside her was Diggle, acting as the ring bearer and carrying the wedding rings on a satin pillow. Then finally, the person everyone was waiting for: Iris, looking beautiful and smiling under her veil as if nothing had ever happened, hanging onto Joe's arm as they both slowly walked down the aisle.

If at all possible, Barry's smile widened as he watched his soon-to-be-wife. He had of course already seen her in her attire, but he could fully appreciate it now as he stood and watched her approach until, finally, there she was, right in front of him. She was smiling just as wide as Barry was, and as the music faded out, he felt his heart rate increase speed in the best way.

"Dearly beloved," the minister began, "We are gathered here today to witness the wedding of Bartholomew Henry Allen and Iris Ann West…"

In his current mood, Barry couldn't even care less that, to be official, his full name had to be used. Although he did spare a moment to briefly elbow Cisco, who had started snickering softly.

And just like that, the moment they had been waiting for was there, staring them down. Everything hung suspended like slow motion as the minister reached the end of his speech, and the happy couple stood staring at each other and smiling. And then came the words Barry had been waiting to hear since he had woken up that morning.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Barry was moving forward before the words had even fully left the minister's mouth, his lips crashing against Iris' as he cupped her face in his hands.

The one moment he wouldn't be late for.

 **Author's Note:** I honestly do not know what possessed me to write this, the idea came out of nowhere and I just had to get it done lmao. Hope you all enjoyed! Look out for more from me, I've been working on putting together some stories that will actually be multiple chapters!


End file.
